'Revolutionary court' has issued death sentences, they say

(ANSA) - Turin, February 19 - A little-known militant group
on Wednesday threatened "armed struggle" against those guarding
a high-speed rail line between Italy and France in a chilling
reminder of leftist and rightist terrorist campaigns that left
scores dead in the 1970s and '80s.

The Nuclei Operativi Armati (Armed Operational Nuclei, NOA)
said its "revolutionary court" had condemned to death" officials
and police who were allegedly "repressing" protests against the
work on the Treni Alta Velocità (TAV) line north of Turin.

The citizens' movement trying to stop the link disassociated
itself from the NOA.

The 'No TAV' movement, which has clashed with police and
been blamed for acts of sabotage, condemned the NOA and
reiterated it was engaged in a programme of civil disobedience
that refused "violence against persons".

It said the militants had "no right" to try to piggyback its
protest against the line between Turin and Lyon.

"The No TAV movement has a special, popular, mass DNA, ready
to openly practise civil disobedience without (giving) any space
to violence," a statement from the group said.

"No one has any right to use the No TAV movement, and still
less to try to replace the struggle the movement has decided and
built up, collectively (and) openly," said the protesters, who
have been demonstrating for years against the line, arguing that
claims about its economic value are wrong and its impact on a
pristine landscape will be devastating.

Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi condemned what he
called the "terrorist" threat, saying the NOA were besmirching
the memory of northern Italian WWII Resistance fighters.

"The so-called NOA (Nuclei Armati Operativi) should stop
dragging the memory of the partisans through the mud with their
criminal ravings, and disfiguring words like freedom and
liberation," Lupi said in a statement.

Lupi said the NOA's threat to carry out executions, like the
partisans did against Nazis and collaborators, showed that the
No TAV movement had now been backed by extremist militants.
"Behind the opposition to the TAV a terrorist design is now
manifesting itself, as Turin prosecutors have denounced for some
time, which speaks without historical memory about 'proletarian
and revolutionary consciences', 'revolutionary courts' and
'death sentences'," Lupi said.

The NOA letter, sent to ANSA's offices in Turin and Bologna
as well as the news agency's Rome HQ, came a day after a
Carabiniere police officer was indicted in connection with
clashes in the Susa Valley in July 2011.

Prosecutors, who have opened a probe, said NOA was "already
known to us".

No-TAV protests, which have sometimes turned violent, have
built up steam in recent years and been taken up by leftist and
anti-capitalist groups despite government efforts to persuade
opponents that it is an essential piece of infrastructure,
especially when Italy's economy has been suffering its longest
postwar recession.

The Italian and French governments have insisted that the
link will not only speed passenger and freight traffic
but also boost both countries' economies.

On February 7 Turin prosecutors requested a nine-month jail
term for anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Beppe
Grillo after he visited an illegally built large mountain hut in
2010 that became a centre-piece of the protests.
Grillo, who heads Italy's second-biggest party, is also
under investigation by prosecutors in several Italian cities for
allegedly inciting soldiers to stop protecting politicians.

M5S MP Laura Castelli distanced herself and her movement
from the NOA's threats.

"As a No TAV and a M5S MP I distance myself from these
threatening letters," she said.

"These threats are part of the media intoxication whipped up
before the European Parliament elections (in May)," she claimed,
voicing the hope that police would find the culprits.